By Peter Makem Irish dancing was very big back in my early days. But it is even bigger now. I remember half a century ago there were two schools of Irish dancing in Keady and they vied with each other… Continue Reading
By Peter Makem For a few years in my early life I played the uilleann pipes. There was a set in the house bought by my father from a traveller piper in Keady and from time to time, I strapped… Continue Reading
By Peter Makem I remember when driving through Cooley, Co Louth a few years ago with a friend of ours, Claudine Thornton, a native of the area and who was showing us around. She suddenly told me to pull up… Continue Reading
Sometime shortly after the Good Friday Agreement I was asked to say a few words about the distinctive contributions of John Hume and Seamus Mallon at the end of a local function. There seemed to be some tension between these… Continue Reading
By Peter Makem The first crash to have happened at the village of Cliften in County Galway was over a hundred years ago when John Alcock and Arthur Brown made the first ever crossing of the Atlantic by air on… Continue Reading
By Peter Makem Over fifty years ago a statue was erected in Newry in honour of the Irish patriot John Mitchel (1815-1875) by some local politicians and leaders. A Newry GAA club around that time was named in his honor… Continue Reading
By Peter Makem It’s official. After 100 days of impasse and negotiation in the backdrop of Covid-19 virus a new and historic deal between Ireland’s two traditional bitter political rivals Fine Gael and Fianna Fail will see Micheál Martin of… Continue Reading
By Peter Makem Over twelve years ago a decision was made at Stormont to develop three new stadia for soccer, rugby and the GAA. It was revolutionary and a symbol of reaching out to the three major sports. Regarding soccer,… Continue Reading
By Peter Makem Like the snowdrop teething on the gums of January, like the clock of May awakening the corncrake, the lupin open to July’s arrival, the oak sapling leafing its first June, like the green bud forming on the… Continue Reading
Photo Caption (above): The Bogside Artists Mural in County Derry By Peter Makem It was very close to the Kennedy Assassination in terms of memory shock. For all those alive at the time on January 30, 1972, everybody seems to… Continue Reading